Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I learned over the weekend from Daren Kuropatwa's July 27, 2007 blog post that innovation3 has been upgraded to a "gold" pbwiki site. At the November Learning Building Learning Communities 07 conference (BLC07) I attended a series of workshops given by Darren. At the end of his third workshop he offered a challenge to the participants that I accepted to set up a free pbwiki site. I committted to using this site to introduce Web 2.0 tools to the colleagues I work with in my school district. Thanks again, Darren!

I am facinated by the potential these tools have for assisting us with learning, and I find myself applying these new BLC07 understandings to my own learning. I took the picture below this weekend at a photography workshop I attended given by Bob Speare, a Massachusetts Audubon Society naturalist. Bob did a great job teaching us, but I could not help but applying my experience with Darren at BLC07 to the photography workshop.

No wireless internet connection at Long Pastures Wildlife Sanctuary so when Bob mentioned something I wanted to research I had no access to the web's resources.

No online repository of tools and information to access.

No slideshow to reflect on after the conference.

No challenge to scribe post my learning during the workshop to prompt reflection on the content and thus no opportunity to read feedback from others in the workshop.

No opportunity for the instructor to read our posts to assess our understanding.

No ongoing learning community I could be part of to extend my learning.

I learned a lot at Bob's workshop.  He had us listening, asking questions, and taking pictures in the field for the two days of the workshop. That isn't the issue; I am not criticizing Bob or Massachusetts Audubon.  I am focused as a learner on what I could have learned that I didn't have a chance to learn. The limitation is in the teaching practices that are "tried and true" that are characteristic of instruction that happens throughout the world. I think we should begin to measure those practices against the squandered potential of not using new Web 2.0 application tool capacitities. Teachers are discovering and using these new applications in creative ways to teach students to learn successfully in new ways. I need to learn more about the tools and how they are helping people learn. I invite you to learn with me.

 

July 20, 2007 

 

Welcome to my new wiki!

This is a new art for me. As a superintendent of schools I plan to introduce this picture to our Administrative Council next week to tell the story of the BLC07 conference. I've learned much about the nature of Web 2.0 tools and how we can use it to fulfil our mission to educate students in a way that engages them in their learning so they develop the capacity to pursue their goals and lifelong learning.

Thank you, Darren Kuropatwa.

You are an artful soul.

What we have learned with you will live on long after this conference!

PS My wife and grandson and I talk about how we learned during the week. I plan to share this photo in the same way with them.

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